News
Matt Cunningham – king of the jigs and reels
Musical maestro Matt Cunningham’s is not only celebrating 50 years as a traditional musician, he is 30 years working as a music teacher too!
Matt – from Headford – is a household name in the Irish music world, having become one of the most popular performers within the set and céilí dancing traditions.
His recordings for dancers have been lauded for preserving the tradition of set and céilí dancing across the globe.
“Thanks to Matt, dancers from Brisbane to Ballybofey and Beijing to Boston come together regularly to dance to his music while keeping the tradition alive,” remarked a spokesperson for the Headford branch of Comhaltas.
Although best known for his performances on accordion and fiddle, Matt’s ability to captivate an audience with a slow air on whistle has won him a legion of fans, with almost 100,000 YouTube hits alone for one of his whistle performances.
His emotive and haunting delivery of such compositions on the whistle has led him to perform before St Pope John Paul II and the Kennedy family.
In the early years of his career, Matt spent many nights performing in the very popular entertainment venue Teach Furbo in Connemara alongside the likes of Planxty, the Wolfe Tones and the Dubliners.
Derek Warfield of the Wolfe Tones has fond memories of that time.
“Music flowed from Matt whether it was entertaining at a céilí, cabaret or today as he is teaching. Matt performed as a guest with the Wolfe Tones from 1969 until 1983. When Matt shared the stage with us and opened the shows with tunes, he always had the crowd clapping and dancing instantaneously,” he recalled.
Matt only started teaching music reluctantly 30 years ago after requests from numerous parents who wanted their children to play.
“It just wasn’t something I had contemplated doing before that. Once I started however I just fell in love with it; I don’t consider it’s work as I really enjoy interacting with the young people every week and it’s a delight to see their development over time and to know that I am passing on the music in my own small way.”
Matt is also an accomplished Irish country singer and has performed with many of Ireland’s best known country artists over the years, including the late Larry Cunningham in the 80s. The pair worked on a cruise liner to the Caribbean together at one stage and during their time on board shared a cabin.
“It was very funny because although we weren’t related we had the same surname and always hung around together. The staff who hadn’t a clue who we were used to refer to us as Mr & Mrs Cunningham when they would see M & L Cunningham written on the dinner reservation,” he laughed.
Matt continues to perform both in and outside of Ireland with gigs around Ireland, the UK, Portugal and North America this year. In May he and his band will join musician Joanie Madden and her group Cherish the Ladies to perform on a cruise throughout the Caribbean.
Matt made his first recording in 1984 and since then has released 26 CDs and six DVDs. He received a platinum disc in 1996 for the worldwide sales of his Dance Music of Ireland collection. He also later published a music tutor book containing 298 traditional tunes.
To coincide with his 50th year in the music business, Matt has launched a special edition 50th Anniversary CD with his best loved tracks.
During Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann this August, Matt will be awarded a Bardic Award by the Ard Comhairle of Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann at a special awards ceremony in Sligo town and TG4 will be airing a special documentary on him later this year.
Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
On the eve of completing his 150th marathon, an odyssey that has taken him across 53 countries, Loughrea’s Marathon Man has announced that he is planning to hang up his running shoes.
But not before Jarlath Fitzgerald completes another ten races, making it 160 marathons on the occasion of his 60th birthday.
“I want to draw the line in 2026. I turn 57 in October and when I reach 60 it’s the finishing line. The longer races are taking it out of me. I did 20 miles there two weeks ago and didn’t feel good. It’s getting harder,” he reveals.
“I’ve arthritis in both hips and there’s wear and tear in the knees.”
We speak as he is about to head out for a run before his shift in Supervalu Loughrea. Despite his physical complaints, he still clocks up 30 miles every second week and generally runs four days a week.
Jarlath receives injections to his left hip to keep the pain at bay while running on the road.
To give his joints a break, during the winter he runs cross country and often does a five-mile trek around Kylebrack Wood.
He is planning on running his 150th marathon in Cork on June 4, where a group of 20 made up of work colleagues, friends and running mates from Loughrea Athletics Club will join him.
Some are doing the 10k, others are doing the half marathon, but all will be there on the finishing line to cheer him on in the phenomenal achievement.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
From the Galway City Tribune – An impassioned plea for a ‘masterplan’ that would guide Galway City into the future has been made in the Dáil. Galway West TD Catherine Connolly stated this week that there needed to be an all-inclusive approach with “vision and leadership” in order to build a sustainable city.
Deputy Connolly spoke at length at the crisis surrounding traffic and housing in Galway city and said that not all of the blame could be laid at the door of the local authority.
She said that her preference would be the provision of light rail as the main form of public transport, but that this would have to be driven by the government.
“I sat on the local council for 17 years and despaired at all of the solutions going down one road, metaphorically and literally. In 2005 we put Park & Ride into the development plan, but that has not been rolled out. A 2016 transport strategy was outdated at the time and still has not been updated.
“Due to the housing crisis in the city, a task force was set up in 2019. Not a single report or analysis has been published on the cause of the crisis,” added Deputy Connolly.
She then referred to a report from the Land Development Agency (LDA) that identified lands suitable for the provision of housing. But she said that two-thirds of these had significant problems and a large portion was in Merlin Park University Hospital which, she said, would never have housing built on it.
In response, Minister Simon Harris spoke of the continuing job investment in the city and also in higher education, which is his portfolio.
But turning his attention to traffic congestion, he accepted that there were “real issues” when it came to transport, mobility and accessibility around Galway.
“We share the view that we need a Park & Ride facility and I understand there are also Bus Connects plans.
“I also suggest that the City Council reflect on her comments. I am proud to be in a Government that is providing unparalleled levels of investment to local authorities and unparalleled opportunities for local authorities to draw down,” he said.
Then Minister Harris referred to the controversial Galway City Outer Ring Road which he said was “struck down by An Bord Pleanála”, despite a lot of energy having been put into that project.
However, Deputy Connolly picked up on this and pointed out that An Bord Pleanála did not say ‘No’ to the ring road.
“The High Court said ‘No’ to the ring road because An Bord Pleanála acknowledged it failed utterly to consider climate change and our climate change obligations.
“That tells us something about An Bord Pleanála and the management that submitted such a plan.”
In the end, Minister Harris agreed that there needed to be a masterplan for Galway City.
“I suggest it is for the local authority to come up with a vision and then work with the Government to try to fund and implement that.”
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
